Comments on: Robert Kraft tells UK fans: It’s time for an NFL franchise in London

By: deep64blue

deep64blue — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:03:54 +0000

@ realitypolice says:-

There are plenty of restraints on player movement in European leagues. They are not free to move from team to team as they wish.

If players can be restricted from switching teams and be bought and sold like cattle, certainly they can participate in a draft.

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European law enforces contracts a player has signed but has greatly increased the freedom players have. They can only be transferred if they agree a contract with the buying team, unlike the American systems where the contract can be assigned.

I can assure you the Draft would be illegal in Europe.

By: rcali

rcali — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 17:55:56 +0000

Everybody, if the NFL thought it could make money selling your kids for you, they would do it. It’s only viewed as a business from their view while it’s a hobby to the rest of us. The fans are only pawns in this game.

By: spoilerfutbol

spoilerfutbol — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 04:24:30 +0000

Move the Browns again hahaha
I think Mexico could be better than UK for NFL franchise, we love football ! in London the fans just go crazy when there is a kickoff or FG hahaha

By: ian40uk

ian40uk — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 21:19:58 +0000

The NFL would be much better investing in the grass roots of the sport here in the UK.

Ive been to every NFL game in the UK and enjoyed it alot, but ive been a Patriots fan for 25 years now so wouldnt switch to become a fan of another team just because it is “local”

By: surly1n1nd1anapol1s

surly1n1nd1anapol1s — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 21:18:43 +0000

He should step up. Change the name to Old England Monarchs.

Amazing what guys do largely with married money.

By: realfann

realfann — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:18:11 +0000

So now we know whose hand was up the puppet Goodell when he driveled on about a London Superbowl.

Kraft has been and will continue to be very bad for football.

By: doe22us

doe22us — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:14:30 +0000

This idea is ludicrous and stupid at best, imagine have a premiership or la Liga team based in the States. It doesnt even make any sense whatsoever.

By: direwolf748

direwolf748 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:50:28 +0000

hey look at that mr. kraft, your team already has England in it’s name.

By: abninf

abninf — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:45:32 +0000

Imagine the taxes the players and employees would have to cough up living there.

By: mike8016

mike8016 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:09:38 +0000

First off i don’t think any player would want to play in London. Almost every player is from the United States and they would want to stay in a place they are comfortable. 2nd off the travel schedule would be brutal. It would cause a serious disadvantage for teams to travel to London and it would be horrible for the London team to travel to the United States. 3rd if Robert Kraft really wants a team in London Move the Patriots and change there name to something else. Just because this works for a couple games a year doesn’t mean it will work for a full season. Your better off putting a team in Canada. We already have seen it can be decent with other sports doing it.

By: realitypolice

realitypolice — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:20:39 +0000

deep64blue says:
Oct 27, 2012 12:08 PM
He does realise the Draft would be illegal under European law doesn’t he? I find it ironic how many Americans go on about ‘Socialist’ Europe where we would never allow such a restraint on trade as the Draft.
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Nonsense. There are plenty of restraints on player movement in European leagues. They are not free to move from team to team as they wish.

If players can be restricted from switching teams and be bought and sold like cattle, certainly they can participate in a draft.

By: Deb

Deb — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:12:48 +0000

I always used to respect Mr. Kraft’s opinion.

By: schmitty2

schmitty2 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:10:26 +0000

I couldn’t imagine a team playing in a place where team meals consisted of tea and crumpets

By: deep64blue

deep64blue — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:08:58 +0000

He does realise the Draft would be illegal under European law doesn’t he? I find it ironic how many Americans go on about ‘Socialist’ Europe where we would never allow such a restraint on trade as the Draft.

By: tannethrill

tannethrill — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:06:05 +0000

noremixingofnflfilmsmusic…

First of all I can’t see a team basing it’s operation on the east coast and flying to London 8 times a year and being on the road 8 times a year. That’s an unbelievable competitive disadvantage.

They would need to be based in London in order to build the brand as opposed to acting like a traveling roadshow. Which means their families would either need to be away from them or become residents.

Basically if you want to see your kids you need to enroll them in a school which will teach the metric system as well as another country’s history among other big differences.

I’m sure it’s a nice place to live if you CHOOSE to live there but forcing someone right out of college to move and represent another country is ridiculous.

My suggestion would be to hold tryouts for UK residents, create two teams of locals and start growing from there.

They’ll never embrace Americans playing American football but I could see them embracing their own people.

By: ravenator

ravenator — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:04:19 +0000

So is the NFL going to change its acronym to the WFL, World Football League? Give it up Kraft, you sound ridiculous.

By: osiris33

osiris33 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:46:22 +0000

How can a league thatcan’t even place a team in the nation’s 2nd largest city even discuss putting a team in London? Get a team in LA then sit down and shut up.

By: jimcaldwellsucks

jimcaldwellsucks — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:45:39 +0000

Then by all means Bobby move your Patriots.

Losing a team couldn’t happen to a better fan base.

Then just call them the England Patriots.

By: juliodamfoolio

juliodamfoolio — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:39:15 +0000

This is just insanity fueled by greed. If Kraft or anyone else thinks the NFL will ever supplant Premier League soccer over there they are out of their minds.

Totally agree that if Kraft wants it that badly then he is more than welcome to send his Pats over there. Maybe they will take the Jets with them.

By: FinFan68

FinFan68 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:33:22 +0000

Kraft and Goodell are very wrong on this one. Expansion for the sake of “potential” revenue will hurt the game/league. Is $9B/yr not enough? These businessmen cannot fathom leaving an untapped market alone and the “world domination in sport” mentality reeks of a 007 movie villain.

There is no reason to attempt this (profit is a guess and a net loss is just as likely long-term) and the cons far outweigh the pros. The logistics are a huge issue and the competitive advantage/disadvantage will not truly be solved. The UK fills a stadium for one game a year and somehow that is justification for a team hosting 8 games a year there. Faulty logic. The novelty will wear off and as others have said, NFL fans in the UK already have favorite teams. Some will change allegiance due to geography but not enough to fill the stadium weekly.

Many of the changes, whether already implemented or implied for the future, will dilute the game in my opinion.

By: mrbigass

mrbigass — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:29:37 +0000

The idea of a team in the UK makes me ill. Can you imagine the travel nightmare of a team there tryin’ to fly here every other week for a game.

And think about west coast. London to San Diego. Yep, that would be fun…….

By: illiniftw

illiniftw — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:24:29 +0000

Might be a nice place to live, but the food is terrible!! Will be hard to keep some of the guys over 300 lb! (Or however many stones that is)

By: Wolfgang Depner

Wolfgang Depner — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:16:46 +0000

Kraft’s attitude towards fans in London is pretty arrogant. Telling audiences that the the EPL is just second best is pretty rich when you are trying to promote a sport that ranks somewhere between darts and lawn bowlin on the UK dial.

By: wvucolumbus

wvucolumbus — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:13:39 +0000

Mr. Kraft-You are not Mr. Rooney or Mr. Mara. In other words, your opinion carries minimal weight.

By: silverbackdk

silverbackdk — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:13:23 +0000

I would like know what european TV-ratings are like – to measure the passion for football (NFL). I know the game in london is not just a UK thing, but a european thing. personally I’m a lot more inti Football than soccer and I would be inclined to travel to games within Europe. But maybe it would make more sense if a division of 4 teams was established in europe and maybe one in asia….so an 8 team expansion instead of relocation…

By: jikkle49

jikkle49 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:12:55 +0000

Seriously NFL give this up. It’s a logistical nightmare and a competitive disadvantage for the team in London and the team playing against London.
Could you imagine being in the same division as the London team? Having to travel to London once a year every year?
What about the playoffs? Imagine the scenario if London team hosts a west coast team in the wild card round and that west coast team wins and has to travel to the east coast for the divisional round? I can’t imagine a team traveling from California to London back to California to New York isn’t a disadvantage in the least.

By: wideright91

wideright91 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:03:22 +0000

Bob Kraft (as well as Jerry) is doing everything he can to ruin the NFL. Nothing but greed. Little does he know that his stadium will be empty when Brady and Bellicheck retire.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:59:52 +0000

dalucks says: Oct 27, 2012 10:13 AM

If Robert Kraft wants a NFL franchise in the UK then he should move the Patriots. If he is not going to move the Patriots then he should sit down and shut up.
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Exactly. Perhaps this is a case where the ventriloquist talks, then the dummy (Goodell) replies.

By: annes22

annes22 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:41:37 +0000

They had it a few years ago for goodness sake.
What’s wrong with living in London, it’s a great place to live? Maybe expensive, but the people insulting living there, get a life, you have no clue.
Probably never even been there.
There will be 80,000 people there tomorrow, but I doubt it every week if they re started it.
Mr Kraft is one of the better owners, so people will listen to him.

By: zbigern

zbigern — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:39:43 +0000

What licks the worst is the amount of power Kraft has in the NFL. Much of what he says-goes…If Mr Macaroni&Cheese wants a team in London? There will be a team in London. I hate the idea. It makes my stomach turn thinking about MY team playing a single game over there, let alone the poor fanbase who may lose a team to those evil oppressors of the world…HATE IT!